Patience, Miss Galinda
by Drop Your Oboe
Summary: Galinda, for lack of anyone else to talk to, finds herself drawn to talk to Elphaba. And Elphaba has some advice for her. Set during their stay at Caprice-in-the-pines. -oneshot, and one of my favorites-


_Elphaba stayed in her room for a day. Galinda came and went with a dinner. On occasion she would stay for a few minutes..._

-_Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West_

* * *

Galinda sets the tray down, surveys her roomie critically. Elphaba barely looks up from her book. "Thank you, Miss Galinda," she says, and is absorbed once again.

Galinda, hands on hips, watches her read. Then she sighs. "Really, Miss Elphaba, I've half a mind to just go home."

Elphaba looks up at her, mildly annoyed. "Miss Galinda, is there a reason for this?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"As I was apparently born to plague you," says Elphaba dryly, "I might assume that you would not naturally be inclined to associate yourself with me."

"Better you than them," says Galinda. "You aren't society, Miss Elphaba, so you wouldn't know. Look at these girls. They have the nerve to call themselves my friends, and then they go and play a trick like that on me. Do you see any reason for me to associate with them?"

"None," says Elphaba, "save the fact that I was the trick you played on them, so you've no reason to associate with me. Go and talk to Boq, I'm sure he'd be glad for it. Go on."

"Miss Elphie," says Galinda, aggravated, "will you stop trying to nudge my affections in Boq's direction, if you've not noticed yet I haven't taken any of your cues. My affections are my own and they're already as far towards Boq as they will go in that respect." She blushes: she hasn't meant to say that.

"How interesting," says Elphaba, but she sits up and shuts her book. "Miss Galinda, dare I think that you may be looking fondly upon him, even somewhat?"

"You most certainly do not," Galinda says quickly, to cover, and is suddenly tired of the subject. "Please don't, Miss Elphie. That's the last thing I need right now."

Uncharacteristically, Elphaba obliges. "All right."

"Really?"

"Is it so hard to believe I have any small amount of human sympathy, Miss Galinda?"

"Miss Elphie, would you shut up," snaps Galinda, and then stops, taken aback at the look on her roomie's face: half surprised, but half- Galinda can't place it. Elphaba seems pleased, of all the strange things.

"I am sick and tired of you assuming that everyone thinks you're so heartless," Galinda continues bluntly, with a mental shrug. "Of course you aren't, I know you aren't- in fact, Miss Elphie, only rarely have I heard stranger. I'm just surprised that you would give up so suddenly, seeing as there have been past occasions where you've bothered me about Boq for- what was it, two days running?"

"Three," says Elphaba, but she grins, "and it was only one occasion. My apologies, Miss Galinda. In the future I shall try to think more about what I say on the subject."

"Good night, then, Miss Elphie," says Galinda, still rather coldly, "for I doubt I will see you for the rest of the day."

"Fresh dreams," says Elphaba almost absently as Galinda turns to leave. "Miss Galinda?"

She turns back, one hand on the doorpost. "Yes?"

"Don't leave."

Galinda is shocked. "_What_?"

"I mean-" Elphaba, flustered, blushes. "Don't leave _here_, this place," she corrects herself. "Don't go back to Shiz, not just yet."

"Oh." Galinda, reflexively, laughs a little, but then turns a bemused face to her roomie. "Why not?"

"Leaving would only be to admit defeat."

"You think so?" For once, Galinda finds herself troubled, hanging on the green girl's advice.

"If you stay here, it shows them you're stronger than a petty insult such as myself."

"And if you stay here, it shows them you're strong enough to overcome being a petty insult?"

"Exactly." Elphaba smiles in approval.

Galinda bites her lip. She looks down, then back at Elphaba. "Thank you." Sighing, she continues. "Today has been confusing, Miss Elphaba, to say the least. The very, very least," she amends. "Oh, hell."

Elphaba snickers at her, but says kindly enough, "Patience, Miss Galinda. Chances are it'll only get worse before it improves any."

"You're so, so uplifting, Miss Elphie," says Galinda dryly, and Elphaba laughs. "Why, I feel better already. Good night," she repeats, and leaves, closing the door softly behind her.

* * *

_Disclaimer: not mine._

_So? Tell me, please. It only takes a minute to make someone smile._


End file.
